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Nikoli resigns from Procurement Board

Days af­ter launch­ing his po­lit­i­cal par­ty, for­mer in­de­pen­dent sen­a­tor Nikoli Ed­wards has re­signed from the Pro­cure­ment Board of T&T. He sub­mit­ted his res­ig­na­tion let­ter dat­ed to­day to the chair­man of the Pro­cure­ment Board Mooni­lal Lalchan.

On Sat­ur­day, Ed­wards launched the Pro­gres­sive Par­ty, at the Har­ris Prom­e­nade, San Fer­nan­do, and an­nounced plans con­test all seats in the up­com­ing gen­er­al elec­tion.

Ed­wards, who was ap­point­ed to the in­au­gur­al Pro­cure­ment Board on Jan­u­ary 12 last year by for­mer Pres­i­dent An­tho­ny Car­mona, wrote in his res­ig­na­tion let­ter: "As you are aware, I have de­cid­ed up­on an­oth­er course through which I hope to be of ser­vice to my coun­try. It was not an easy de­ci­sion and one for which I ex­pect there to be con­se­quences, but one which I be­lieve I am called to. I have launched a po­lit­i­cal par­ty, the Pro­gres­sive Par­ty, and cur­rent­ly, sit as its in­ter­im po­lit­i­cal leader.

"It is my hope to con­test the 2020 gen­er­al elec­tion and emerge as a Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment where I can ef­fec­tive­ly rep­re­sent the views of cit­i­zens and con­tribute to leg­isla­tive re­forms, some­thing which I have some ex­pe­ri­ence with al­so thanks to the for­mer Pres­i­dent. While this is a huge risk, I am con­fi­dent in my abil­i­ty to see this through."

Ed­wards said while there are no stip­u­la­tions in place for his res­ig­na­tion he has opt­ed to step down.

"I have come to un­der­stand that while the Pub­lic Pro­cure­ment and Dis­pos­al of Pub­lic Prop­er­ty Act of 2015 does not speak to a unique sit­u­a­tion where, in the ex­er­cise of his or her du­ty on the Pro­cure­ment Board, a mem­ber be­comes the leader of a po­lit­i­cal par­ty, I do un­der­stand that such a sce­nario may be seen as in­de­fen­si­ble giv­en so­ci­ety’s dis­trust for politi­cians and the be­lief that all politi­cians are im­par­tial, for­get­ting that a politi­cian’s pre­rog­a­tive should at all times be about work­ing to ad­vance the coun­try’s in­ter­est and not par­ty’s in­ter­est," Ed­wards said.

"De­spite the above, I wish to ten­der my res­ig­na­tion as a mem­ber of the Pro­cure­ment Board and Chair­per­son of the In­el­i­gi­bil­i­ty Sub-Com­mit­tee ef­fec­tive Au­gust 1, 2019, as a mat­ter of pre­serv­ing the in­tegri­ty of the Pro­cure­ment Board. I have opt­ed not to re­sign with im­me­di­ate ef­fect as there are mat­ters which I wish to close and I fur­ther pose no threat to any of our in­tend­ed stake­hold­ers as cur­rent­ly, mem­bers of the board can on­ly pro­vide pol­i­cy and strate­gic di­rec­tion in the ab­sence of the full procla­ma­tion of the Act."